Metro connectivity: Noida Extension residents

Noida Extension Sector 1

NOIDA: Residents of Noida Extension (Greater Noida West) and home buyers with property in Noida Extension have expressed dismay over the shelved plan by Noida Authority to extend the metro line to this part of the city over issues of fund-crunch.

The authority has recently announced that the metro project would have to wait until debts are recovered from realtors. Citing inconvenience and long term damage to development prospects of the region, home buyers, presently residing at Gaur City and a few other projects which have given possession, the buyers took to micro-blogging platform Twitter on Saturday and Sunday and raised a slogan for the government to reinstate the metro extension plan. The comments were made along the hashtag ‘metrodilwaoyogiji’.

According to the buyers, the Noida Extension or Greater Noida West residencies were sold with the promise of a future metro connection. They also claim that with a high density of residences in the region, traffic snarls are already a problem. With more and more apartments to be handed over for possession in the years to come, a delay in construction of this metro line could enhance the traffic snarls and hence metro connectivity for the region is urgent.

“Even now, while going to work or while returning in the evening, present residents of Noida Extension face traffic problems. There’s a huge rush during the evening when the office goers return. The only hope for solving traffic problems for Noida Extension is the metro. Shelving this plan or postponing it is not a sensible option,” Amarjeet Rathod, a member of Gaur City residents association said.

Home buyers’ group Nefowa (Noida Extension Home Buyers’ Welfare Association) plans to take up the issue with Noida Authority. “We are going to meet the CEO on Tuesday and express our problem. The need for metro is crucial for present and future residents of Noida Extension,” Abhishek Kumar, president, Nefowa, said.

The link to Greater Noida West is a 15-km stretch that is expected to connect Noida’s Sector 71 with Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park V. It had been given a March 2021 deadline for completion. Greater Noida West has around 3 lakh under-construction housing units of which around 20,000 are occupied.